143 English Words That Are Actually Spanish

Spanish and English have been rubbing off on each other for over a century. Here are just some of the Spanish words that you probably use every day.

Thanks to the popularity of Mexican cuisine north of the border (around the world, actually), there are plenty of Spanish words that English speakers knowingly adopt in day-to-day use: taco, tortilla and quesadilla are pretty standard imports. But you may be surprised to learn that hundreds more Spanish words are in everyday use. And if you think this is due to the United States’ rapidly growing Hispanic population, you’d actually be wrong. Spanish words have been used in English for a very long time.

Before Mexicans came to the United States, Americans came to Mexico. Present-day California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada and Utah, as well as parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming, were all part of Mexico until they were ceded to the United States at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. And although the change in sovereignty meant a massive influx of English speakers, it also meant that thousands of Mexicans living in the region suddenly became Americans. Even earlier, in 1819, Spain ceded their Florida colony (which included parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana) to the United States. As a result of a century of shifting borders, Spanish and English have had numerous opportunities to rub off on each other. Here are just some of the Spanish words that you probably use every day.

Arizona – from Spanish Arizonac, itself an adoption of the word alĭ ṣonak, meaning “little spring”, from the local O’odham language. Alternate etymology may be the Basque haritz ona (“good oak”).

California – a mythical island from the 1510 Spanish novel Las sergas de Esplandián by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.

Colorado – “red-colored” (referring to the color of the river that is the state’s namesake).

Florida – "flowery"

Montana – from montaña (“mountain”)

Nevada – "snowy"

New Mexico – Nuevo México

Texas – the Spanish adopted the word tejas from the language of the indigenous Cado people. It means “friends” or “allies”.

Utah – derived from the name of the indigenous Ute people, via Spanish yuta.

Buena Vista – “good view”

El Paso – “the pass”

Fresno – “ash tree”

Las Vegas – “the meadows”

Los Angeles – El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula, “The Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angels of the Porciúncula River”

Monterey – “king’s mountain”

San Antonio – “Saint Anthony”

San Francisco – “Saint Francis”

Santa Cruz – “holy cross”

Nothing’s more American than a cowboy, right? Well actually, the first people to herd cattle on horseback in North America were the vaqueros who introduced the ancient Spanish equestrian tradition to the Southwest. Their name is derived from vaca, the Spanish word for – you guessed it – cow.

Spanish Words That Are Actually…

But English isn’t the only language with a penchant for absorbing words from other languages. Many words that English has acquired from Spanish originally came from other languages, mostly those of native American populations that were subjugated by the Spanish colonial empire.

Nahuatl

(Mexico)

avocado – anglicization of Spanish aguacate, from Nahuatl ahuacatl

chili – chilli

chipotle – “smoked chili pepper”, lit. chilli + poctli (“smoke”)

chocolate – xocolatl (“hot water”)

cocoa – Spanish cacao, from Nahuatl cacáhuatl

coyote – coyotl

guacamole – ahuaca-molli, ahuacatl ("avocado") + molli ("sauce")

mesquite – from Mexican Spanish mezquite, from Nahuatl mizquitl

mole – molli (“sauce”)

tamale – tamalli

tomato – Spanish tomate, from Nahuatl xitomatl

peyote – peyotl (“caterpillar”)

mescal – Spanish mezcal, from Nahuatl mexcalli

shack – Mexican Spanish jacal (“hut”), from Nahuatl xacalli

Arawak Languages

(Caribbean and North Coast of South America)

canoe – Spanish canoa, from Arawakan canaoua

iguana – iwana

hurricane – from huracán, from Taino hurákan

key/quay – cayo, from Taíno cayo

papaya – papáia

potato – European Spanish patata, from Taíno batata (sweet potato)

savanna – from sabana, from Taíno zabana

tobacco – Spanish tabaco from a Taíno word for a roll of tobacco leaves

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John-Erik was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in a suburb named after Tarzan (yes, really). He studied art at The Cooper Union in New York and worked as a video editor in LA before turning his attention to writing. He's lived in Berlin since 2009 and has been Babbel Magazine's managing editor since 2015. Most of his free time is taken up by an unhealthy obsession with science fiction.